An element of thought: phosphorus and mental philosophy in the nineteenth century.

ABSTRACT

Georges Cabanis (1757-1808), through his writings on the relation of the physical and moral, or psychological, aspects of man, left a legacy that made the study of mental activity a part of physiology. His views on the importance of phosphorus to the function of the brain thrust that element into a prominent stream of research that involved many investigators in several countries. Although that particular stream eventually dried up, its influence remained by the beginning of the twentieth century basic medical science had become well set on studies of the mind-body relationship.